ARLINGTON, Texas — When the Michigan men’s basketball team takes the floor on Friday against top-seeded Kansas, it’ll be attempting to advance to the Elite Eight, which no other Wolverine team has done since 1994.

Saturday afternoon, in a maize-and-blue-packed Palace of Auburn Hills, it was the Wolverines who sent a statement heard loud and clear: they are for real. Michigan flexed its muscles early and often, blowing out the Rams, 78-53, to earn the program’s first Sweet Sixteen trip since 1994.

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Even with the Big Ten Player of the Year, sophomore Trey Burke, at its helm, the Michigan men’s basketball team was a rather popular pick to be upset by South Dakota State in its first NCAA Tournament game.

The Wolverines’ first-round opponent this year, South Dakota State, shares several commonalities with Ohio. Both teams — each No. 13 seeds — entered the Big Dance riding win streaks after winning their conference tournaments, and each features a talented veteran point guard.

CHICAGO — It was exactly six weeks ago that Michigan, the No. 1 team in the nation, departed from Ann Arbor en route to Bloomington for a top-3 tussle with the Hoosiers; a meager six weeks since the Wolverines were sitting pretty with just one loss.

March 10, Senior Day for the Michigan men’s basketball team, was Ann Arbor’s first taste of spring. As temperatures climbed into the mid 60s, locals ditched their winter coats in favor of short-sleeve shirts for the first time this year.

With a Big Ten title literally hanging in the balance, a tip-in off the fingertips of redshirt junior forward Jordan Morgan rolled around the length of the rim before finally dropping out of the cylinder, leaving a previously undefeated home team heartbroken on senior night.